The snow that paralysed South East Britain today was what we native New Englanders would call a dusting. True it was the biggest snowfall in England in the last 18 years, but I am always amused at the havoc relatively mild weather events create in London and I found myself wondering today, as I frequently do, how these people once managed to conquer most of the globe.
I had a grand old time, a productive day working from home (the boss may be reading this), followed by snowy fun. I created a snowman and snow woman, then a snow tree of knowledge, and told them not to eat the fruit from it. Then off to pelting the neighbourhood kids with snowballs - the trick is to pack the snow down really hard so it's almost ice, then go for head shots.
Walking around, everyone seemed so friendly and happy. My neighbour, a large forbidding Jamaican woman who heretofore had only acknowledged my greetings with a scowl, stopped to chat, all smiles and twinkly effervescence about seeing her first snow. The grandmother, single mom and two daughters who live a couple doors down - my relationship with them is more courteous, we give each other slight nods of recognition when we pass on the street - effusively showed me their snow woman, complete with pink scarf and hat. It was if the storm had melted that icy urban wall between us that makes London such an unfriendly place. In the midst of all this snow the city finally became warm.
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